Apple Confirms a Modular Mac Pro Is Coming in 2019

After over a year of rumors and speculation surrounding the future of its ultra high-end Mac Pro computer, a new report out Thursday morning revealed that Apple will in fact be launching its redesigned next-generation Mac Pro in 2019.

The news comes courtesy of TechCrunch blogger Matthew Panzarino, who during a recent spate of trips to Apple’s headquarters, had the rare opportunity to sit down and chat with the team responsible for orchestrating and overseeing the company’s Pro-grade product development.

Apple’s VP of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, along with Tom Boger, Senior Director of Mac Hardware Marketing, Jud Coplan, Director of video Apps Product Marketing, and Xander Soren, Director of Music Apps Product Marketing were present during these discussions — and provided Panzarino with new details about the Mac Pro and how Apple is “shaping it to meet the needs of real professional users,” while confirming it “will not be arriving before 2019.“

“We want to be transparent and communicate openly with our pro community so we want them to know that the Mac Pro is a 2019 product,” said Tom Boger, reiterating that “It’s not something for this year.”

The Pro Workflow Team

Back in 2017, Apple announced a number of “major changes” slated for its next-generation Mac Pro — namely that it will boast an easily upgradeable, modular form-factor and design.

In the months since, Panzarino noted, Apple has organized and employed a “Pro Workflow Team.”

Led by VP of Mac Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, this team — consisting of project developers, award-winning artists, technicians, and other high-level product developers — was assembled to help the company better understand the real day-to-day workflows of its professional users in an effort to help them craft a final product that best serves their needs.

This workflow team is also responsible for pinpointing and addressing any issues that may arise, including even the smallest details like tweaking the GPU design or developing all-new Pro-grade Mac apps to take advantage of the machine’s expectedly magnificent hardware capabilities.

“We’ve gone from just you know engineering Macs and software to actually engineering a workflow and really understanding from soup to nuts, every single stage of the process, where those bottlenecks are, where we can optimize that,” Boger noted.

Mac Pro Details

While Apple’s plans to develop a “modular” machine were confirmed to have not changed in any way, Panzarino unfortunately didn’t receive any additional details regarding the Mac Pro refresh — such as the physical design it will embody or the internal components Apple will employ within it.

Last year, we reported that Apple’s plans involved “completely rethinking” the Mac Pro, noting that the new system will embody a modular form-factor. In the same report, Apple also confirmed that it’s working on an all-new Pro display to accompany and launch alongside the new machine.

In his lengthy report, which can be read in full here, Panzarino cautioned that we’re unlikely to hear any additional details about the new Mac Pro this year, including at Apple’s upcoming Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) slated for the first week of June, 2018, where the company is already rumored to unveil other Pro-grade products.